what topics will be covered?

Finally ! According to the Élysée services, Emmanuel Macron must be received by Léon XIV on April 10. This meeting at the Vatican comes after two postponements – once at the end of last year, once at the beginning of the year – due to the French president’s agenda constraints. This will be the first bilateral meeting between the two men since the accession of Robert Prevost to the pontificate last May.

If the themes of the discussions are not communicated in advance, there should be no shortage of topics for discussion. The international situation, with the war in Iran, should be the subject of shared concern, especially since the two men have each repeatedly expressed their concern for Lebanon, drawn into the conflict.

Faced with the unpredictability of Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron and Leo XIV should also agree on the need to increasingly promote multilateralism, one of the themes raised by the Pope during his visit to Monaco. Algeria, to which the pontiff will fly three days later, could also be on the agenda for discussions.

Catholic education

Furthermore, Leo Likewise, the Pope could recall the need to allow Catholic educational establishments to develop their own character. In a letter sent to the French bishops at the end of March, the pontiff asked them to “defend with determination the Christian dimension of Catholic teaching which, without references to Jesus Christ, would lose its raison d’être.”

Although this is the first meeting between the two heads of state, they have already spoken by telephone. On May 15, the French president had in fact sent his congratulations in person to the former missionary in Peru for his election to the chair of Peter. Before this election, brief meetings between the two have already taken place, notably during Pope Francis’s trips to Marseille (September 2023) and Corsica (December 2024).

For Emmanuel Macron, this will be his fifth official trip to the smallest state in the world. He was in fact received there by Francis in 2018, 2021 and 2023 and went there in 2025 for his funeral. Between the Jesuit pope and the former student of a Jesuit school, good understanding was evident – the two men spoke informally – which does not mean that minds necessarily converged.

Diplomatic marathon

Emmanuel Macron should also meet, as is customary, with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, and Mgr Paul Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States. The official French composition is not yet known.

If the stop at the Vatican will constitute the high point of the French president’s stay in Rome, it will not be limited to it since Emmanuel Macron will arrive in Rome on April 9. He should in particular meet leaders of the Sant’Egidio community, in particular its founder Andrea Riccardi, to whom he is notoriously close.

As for Leo XIV, this visit is part of the start of a real diplomatic marathon, since he will fly to Africa on April 13. During a ten-day trip, he will visit no less than four countries and each time meet the heads of the visited states – Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.